Mardi Gras King Cake with Cream Cheese and Pecan Filling

King Cake is a Mardi Gras tradition that has made its way to much of the Upper Gulf Coast. Bake your own to celebrate Mardi Gras!

Before moving to Texas, I had never even heard of King Cake. Justin said he had tried it before, but didn’t know what it was called. There’s a lot of Cajun/New Orleans influence in the Houston area, so many of the Mardi Gras traditions have migrated here. 

One such tradition is the King Cake. From what we have been told, most of the New Orleans influence in Houston came after many were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. That was long before we were in the area, so I can’t personally say whether that’s true or not. But we certainly celebrate carnival season here, Fat Tuesday, the King Cake tradition, and all of the other Mardi Gras season festivities. 

Celebrated across the Gulf Coast region from the Florida Panhandle to East Texas, King cake parties are documented back to the 18th century. The king cake of the Louisiana tradition comes in a number of styles. The most simple, said to be the most traditional, is a ring of twisted cinnamon roll-style dough. It may be topped with icing or sugar, which may be colored to show the traditional Mardi Gras colors of green, yellow, and purple.

Traditionally, a small plastic or porcelain baby is hidden in the king cake. Originally, the baby was placed in the cake to symbolize baby Jesus. Fava beans were also used to represent Jesus.
Today, the baby symbolizes good luck and prosperity to whomever finds it in his/her slice of cake. That person is also responsible for purchasing next year’s cake, or for throwing the next Mardi Gras party. In some traditions, the finder of the baby is designated “king” or “queen” for the evening.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_cake

Another tradition common to the Cajun background is the crawfish boil. Every Spring, when the crawfish are in season and at their largest size, a crawfish boil is an ideal get-together. It’s not just about the food, but it’s a whole event. Again, I hadn’t heard of this until we moved to Texas. But we’ve been to at least one every year since and have hosted our own as well. When it’s not crawfish season, we make an easy Shrimp Boil Foil Wrap to hold us over. 

The King Cake was fun to make because it’s very different from any other cake I’ve made. I was also able to make two cakes from the dough, so I made one with nuts and one without. I don’t care for nuts, especially in desserts, which is why I don’t often eat traditional King Cake. 

But, with everything, that’s the beauty of making your own King Cake at home. You can control exactly what goes into a recipe. King Cake can be made with multiple different types of filling. So you can find an option to suit your tastes. And you can choose if you want to include a tiny plastic baby or not. 

King Cake Step by Step

Ingredients

Dough

• 16 oz sour cream
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup water (warm)
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 6 3/4 cup bread flour

Filling

• 16 oz cream cheese
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 cup pecans (finely chopped)

Glaze

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tbsp butter (melted)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3-4 tbsp milk

Other

• 3-4 tbsp purple sugar sprinkles
• 3-4 tbsp green sugar sprinkles
• 3-4 tbsp yellow sugar sprinkles

Preparation

Combine the sour cream, butter, salt, and 1/3 cup of sugar in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring until the butter melts. There should be no more lumps of sour cream. 

Remove from the heat and allow it to cool to a temperature of about 100F-110F. 

Meanwhile, in a glass measuring cup, stir together the yeast, water, and 1 tbsp of sugar. Let it stand for 5 minutes.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the sour cream mixture, yeast mixture, 2 eggs, and 2 cups of bread flour. Use the paddle attachment and beat at medium speed. I used speed 4 until it was smooth, about one minute. 

Gradually stir in 4 more cups of the bread flour until it forms into a dough.

Dust a work surface with 1/4 cup of the bread flour and turn the dough out on the lightly floured surface. Knead while adding up to another 1/2 cup of bread flour as needed until the dough is smooth and elastic. The dough should be tacky but still release easily from the work surface. 

Place the dough in a well-greased large bowl and turn to cover with the grease on the sides of the bowl. 

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until it doubles in size. This takes about 45-60 minutes, depending on the room temperature.

Meanwhile, prepare the cream cheese filling by using the stand mixer to beat the cream cheese, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla until it’s smooth. I used the whisk attachment for this at low speed. 

Beat in the egg.

Once the dough has risen, gently punch it down and divide the dough in half. Keep one piece covered while working with the other. On a lightly floured work surface, roll one piece of the dough out to a rectangle about 22×12 inches. 

Spread half of the filling out over the dough. I found an angled spatula worked really well for this part. Leave about 1/4″ around the edges.

Sprinkle the filling with half of the chopped pecans.

Starting with the long edge, gently roll the cake and press the seam to seal. This is similar to how you roll homemade cinnamon rolls.

Place the cake with the seam side down and carefully roll into a circle. Press the edges together to seal. It may help to moisten the dough with a small amount of water to get it to stick together.

Repeat with the second piece of cake dough and remaining filling and pecans. Cover the cakes and let them rise until they double in size. This should take another 45-60 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Uncover the dough rings and bake them for about 25-30 minutes until they are a deep golden brown.

Let the cake rest on the pan for about 10-15 minutes, then move to a wire rack to finish cooling completely. It takes about 1 1/2 hours for the cakes to cool all the way through.

Meanwhile, bake the next cake if they didn’t both fit in the oven together (mine didn’t). 

Once the cakes have cooled, prepare the glaze by whisking the powdered sugar, melted butter, and vanilla in a medium mixing bowl.

Stir in 3 tbsp of milk, adding more as needed until the glaze is thin and opaque.

Place a baking sheet under the wire rack to catch the dripping and pour the glaze over the cake. You can either cover the cake completely or pour it into small chunks, depending on what you want the final cake to look like. 

Sprinkle the top of the cake with alternating colored sugar. If you are hiding a small baby trinket in the cake, do that before serving by pressing it in from the bottom of the cake. Serve a slice of King Cake to your guests and Let the Good Times Roll!

King Cake Leftovers

Storage: Due to the dairy filling, King Cake leftovers are best stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It will stay soft and moist for 2-3 days at most.

Recipe

King Cake with Cream Cheese and Pecan Filling

King Cake is a Mardi Gras tradition that has made it’s way to much of the Upper Gulf Coast. Bake your own to celebrate Mardi Gras!

Prep Time 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Resting Time 3 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 4 hours hours 45 minutes minutes

Course:

Dessert

Cuisine:

American

Keyword:

cake

|

mardi gras

|

new orleans

|

pecans

Servings: 32 pieces

5 from 5 votes

Ingredients

Dough

• 16 oz sour cream
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup water (warm)
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 6 3/4 cup bread flour

Filling

• 16 oz cream cheese
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 cup pecans (finely chopped)

Glaze

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tbsp butter (melted)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3-4 tbsp milk

Other

• 3-4 tbsp purple sugar sprinkles
• 3-4 tbsp green sugar sprinkles
• 3-4 tbsp yellow sugar sprinkles

Recommended Equipment

• Saucepan – Medium
• Measuring Cup
• Stand Mixer
• Wire Cooling Rack

Instructions

Dough

• Combine the sour cream, butter, salt, and 1/3 cup of sugar in a saucepan over medium-low heat
• Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring until the butter melts and sour cream is no longer lumpy
• Remove from the heat and allow it to cool to a temperature of about 100F-110F
• Meanwhile, in a glass measuring cup, stir together the yeast, water, and 1 tbsp of sugar
• Let it stand for 5 minutes
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the sour cream mixture, yeast mixture, 2 eggs, and 2 cups of bread flour
• Use the paddle attachment and beat at medium speed (I used speed 4) until it’s smooth, about one minute
• Gradually stir in 4 more cups of the bread flour until it forms into a dough
• Dust a work surface with 1/4 cup of the bread flour and turn the dough out
• Knead while adding up to another 1/2 cup of bread flour as needed until the dough is smooth and elastic (the dough should be tacky but still release easily from the work surface)
• Place the dough in a well-greased bowl and turn to cover with the grease
• Cover and let the dough rise in a warm place until it doubles in size (about 45-60 minutes, depending on the air temperature)

Filling

• Meanwhile, prepare the filling by using the stand mixer with the whisk attachment to beat the cream cheese, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla until it’s smooth
• Beat in the egg

Form Cakes

• Once the dough has risen, gently punch it down and divide the dough in half, keeping one piece covered while working with the other
• On a lightly floured work surface, roll one piece of the dough out to a rectangle about 22×12 inches
• Spread half of the filling out over the dough leaving about 1/4″ around the edges
• Sprinkle the filling with half of the chopped pecans
• Starting with the long side, gently roll the cake and press the seam to seal
• Place the cake with the seam side down and carefully roll into a circle
• Press the edges together to seal. It may help to moisten the dough with a small amount of water to get it to stick together
• Repeat with the second piece of cake dough and remaining filling and pecans
• Cover the cakes and let them rise until they double in size (another 45-60 minutes)

Bake

• Preheat the oven to 350F
• Uncover the dough rings and bake them for about 25-30 minutes until they are a deep golden brown
• Let the cake rest on the pan for about 10-15 minutes, then move to a wire rack to finish cooling completely (about 1 1/2 hours)
• Meanwhile, bake the second cake if they didn’t both fit in the oven together

Glaze

• Once the cakes have cooled, prepare the glaze by whisking the powdered sugar, melted butter, and vanilla in a medium mixing bowl until crumbly
• Stir in 3 tbsp of milk, adding more as needed until the glaze is thin and opaque
• Place a pan under the wire rack to catch the dripping and pour the glaze over the cake
• You can either cover the cake completely or pour it in small chunks, depending on what you want the final cake to look like
• Sprinkle the cake with alternating colored sugar
• If you are hiding a trinket in the cake, do that before serving by pressing it in from the bottom of the cake

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Nutrition Facts

King Cake with Cream Cheese and Pecan Filling

Amount Per Serving (1 piece)

Calories 307 Calories from Fat 117

% Daily Value*

Fat 13g20%

Saturated Fat 6g30%

Cholesterol 45mg15%

Sodium 160mg7%

Potassium 91mg3%

Carbohydrates 42g14%

Fiber 1g4%

Sugar 22g24%

Protein 5g10%

Vitamin A 381IU8%

Vitamin C 1mg1%

Calcium 43mg4%

Iron 1mg6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutrition content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.

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